


An Olive Branch

by Lily_Harvord



Category: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: A wee little sojourn into the future, F/M, FEATURING MY NEW OC, Fluff, Happy Halloween, Very domestic, and happy birthday Cal!, featuring their adorable daughter, for the most part this is mare and cal, most of the characters are mentions, tee hee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27313204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Harvord/pseuds/Lily_Harvord
Summary: OH BOI. My son be turning 23 this year (he turned 22 during Broken Throne in case no one was paying attention). In honor of that and on account of it being THE SPOOKIEST DAY OF THE YEAR, I figured I’d write a lil something for him. (PLUS he got done so dirty in Red School I had to give him something. Can’t believe in the week of my son’s birth they had the audacity to draw him like that and hit him with the four lines of boring dialogue. Where were the PUNS? Where the pining after Mare? Smh, I’m tired and I hate it here.)Prompt I was charged with: omg so i just thought what if for halloween (and cal’s birthday ofc) you did a part 2 of halloween shenanigans i would dieee or some cute marecal fic during halloween:)))How I restricted myself:Marecal must be the ship pairMust be domestic fluff (and include some form of mending old wounds)Toddler/Baby Coriane Barrow-Calore and big cousin Clara Farley-Barrow must appear at least onceMatching costumes must be usedAnd I have to use the word LadybugComments, Kudos, and Likes are all VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!! You all are welcome to leave any suggestions you’d like me to write too!!ENJOY!!!!!
Relationships: Mare Barrow/Tiberias "Cal" Calore VII
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	An Olive Branch

“Are you enjoying your birthday?” Mare teased as she slipped an arm around Cal’s. He glanced down at her, before looking back at the kids who were vehemently arguing about which houses on the street would be the best to visit for candy. So far, Clara was winning the argument, for the sole reason that she was the eldest of the Barrow cousins and had the most sway. The younger boys always jockeyed for her position, even if it was futile. It amused Cal to no end to watch it. He had no cousins of his own, that he knew of that is, and so the dynamic of the family he had been invited into kept him entertained.

He watched his daughter set her hands on her hips and pout when Bree’s eldest Wes spoke over her. She may have taken after him in her many of her physical features but so much of her personality was Mare’s that it was impossible to deny who her mother was.

“I’ve got a really strong drink, and a show. I’d say I’m doing fine.” Cal smirked as Clara announced the final plans. This year was the first year that he and Mare would be joining the rest of her family for this part. Coriane was old enough now to toddle after her cousins. Although it was already way passed bed time for her, she had stuck it out to go on her first treat walk with everyone. That meant there was bound to be a meltdown or two in a few hours. Hence the strong drink he was going to be carrying the whole night.

“Too bad. I was going to offer a show later tonight too.” Mare poked him in the nose before slipping away like a wraith. His face burned at the insinuation, and he glanced to the side to see if her brother’s had heard but they were busy adjusting coats and talking to their mother. Perfect. He would grab her and whisper in her ear exactly what kind of show they would be putting on. She was quicker than he anticipated though, or maybe he was just getting slower. Either way, she managed to evade the hand he shot out to grab the back of her coat.

It brought a frown to his lips, because he really did have the perfect quip ready. He watched her back as she maneuvered through the kids, tracing her outline with his eyes. He didn’t know what it was, but after Coriane she had only become more attractive. It drove him mad trying to figure out what it was. Even during her pregnancy, he had been stupidly obsessed with her. She had been apologetic during the whole thing, whispering apologizes every time she woke him up before grabbing his face and pressing her lips to his and already going for his pants. He hadn’t minded, and he’d let her know over and over again. Everything about her had been beautiful, and it hadn’t changed after even though she had complained about the way her body looked. 

Pulling their daughter out of the fray, Mare began wrestling her arms into the little coat she had. In the moment he decided she was attractive because she was a surprisingly good mother. The perfect mix of stern and loving that he had yet to master. He knew Coriane came to him with watery eyes and pouting lips when she wanted something after Mare said no. She knew she could get him to do anything when she asked like that.

“No! No coat!” Coriane whined as she went to pull away, but Mare held firm.

“It’s freezing outside, and the big kids are not going to wait while you throw a fit about being cold.” Mare managed to get one of her arms in and then slide the other in before Coriane could dart away.

“It covers my wings,” Coriane’s lip bounced as she looked with teary eyes at Mare, who ignore the look and adjusted the headband antennas that moved during the scuffle to get the jacket on. He spotted the loose shoe laces before Mare did and immediately moved to grab them.

“You’ll just have to smile a lot and tell everyone what you are then.” Cal assured as he bent to help tie her little boots. Her mood immediately changed as she grabbed his shoulder for balance and giggled before pulling her foot out of his grip when he tried to tie her boots together.

“Sneaky.” She said to him before plopping down to try and tie them herself. He watched her as she stuck her tongue in her cheek and worked. Sometimes it was adorable that she was so stubbornly independent, other times not so much. At least this was one of the former. She was successful on her second shoe, which meant he had to tie the first for her still.

Clara appeared in his field of vision just as he pulled the knots tight, and holding her hand out to Coriane said “You can walk with me, Cori. I’m the line leader, my momma said so.”

Accepting the help, Coriane let Clara pull her up and giggled again, this time at the prospect of being in the front with the oldest cousin. It was considered a little bit of a special place to be among the cousins, as Cal had come to see. Coriane and Clara were the only girl cousins though, so he had a feeling she would get picked.

“Don’t let go of Clara’s hand.” Mare warned, before pushing to her feet as well, and Cal didn’t miss her grimace and the hand she dropped to her knee for a second. She should have seen Sara before coming tonight, especially if she knew they were going to be walking for most of the night. But she was stubborn, like she had always been. He knew Coriane hadn’t heard her, because their daughter was already chattering like a little bird as Clara led her out of the front door at the front of the parade of cousins and their family.

“Knee bothering you?” Cal whispered as he reached out to cup it in both hands. He nudged a little heat into the touch, and Mare gave tiny sigh of relief as the aching muscles relaxed.

“Nothing I can’t handle. Just a little sore still.” She assured before running her fingers through his hair once to push it off his forehead. He smiled up at her in response, and threw a wink her direction.

“I’ll do more to help later.”

“Your terrible, get up so we can catch up with everyone.” Mare laughed before tugging her coat closed and heading for the door.

“You’re the one teasing about a show.” He placed a hand in mock hurt to his chest. Not that he would complain about anything she would do tonight. If they even got to it. Normally, they both collapsed in bed and were out before the other even knew about it. Coriane had been pulling a little extra from them this week especially. Tonight, they would probably make it back to the house, put her to bed, and be asleep by ten at the latest. He wouldn’t even be opposed to that anyway.

(/////)

They made it for about twenty minutes before Coriane stopped in the middle of the street and turned to cry about her feet hurting. Her cousins continued on, the boys teasing her before Clara chased them away with her fake sword.

“Do you want to go back?” Cal asked when they finally reached her.

Shaking her head, Coriane held her hands up to him and asked tearfully, “Carry please?”  
  


Sighing, he bent down to grant her wish and scoped her up onto his shoulders. Mare immediately took the half full candy bag before it could fall to the ground. No reason to give Coriane something else to throw a fit about, especially something as avoidable as losing a few pieces of candy.

“Did you have fun at least?” Cal asked, and got a yawn from Coriane in response before she laid her cheek on his head with a little nod. Her tiny arms wrapped around him, as she murmured something. “Next year you’ll walk a little farther.” Cal assured her, but she was already starting to doze. A part of him wished she could stay this small forever. Be this young and innocent for the rest of her life. He always had the same thought in moments like this. When she came and curled up in the bed during lazy mornings and he would just watch her lashes flutter on her cheeks as she breathed. She was growing so fast though. She had walked early, talked early, ran early, it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. How long before she was off on her own? How long before he had to stop taking care of her like he did now?

Ahead of them, the rest of the group had stopped to watch the kids race up to the next house. Shuffling Coriane to a better position, Cal followed behind Mare as they approached the rest of the party. Everyone fell to silence, and all laughter died before they could reach them. It didn’t take much investigation to spot why everyone had suddenly grown so quiet in their group.

Standing just a little off to the side, and try to keep as low a profile as possible now that he had been initially spotted, Ptolemus leaned down to whisper something in Wren’s ear. She whispered something back to him before waving to Mare, who gave a little half-hearted wave back.

“I didn’t know they lived on this street.” Cal murmured to Mare only, who gave a little shake of her head.

“They don’t. They probably brought their son down here because it’s the most kid friendly street.”

Cal blinked in surprise. He didn’t know they had a son, and judging by the look Wren and Ptolemus were giving them, they didn’t know about Coriane either. “How did you find out about their son?”

“Evangeline. She wouldn’t shut up about him a few weeks ago.” Mare tried to keep her posture relaxed, but the air had already gone ten degrees colder as they all waited for the kids to come back down. They were going to have to cross paths, which meant pleasantries, or as close to pleasantries as were possible were going to have to be exchanged.

Speaking of the Magnetron, she appeared down the path, holding the hand of a child with a sheet draped over him. He tore his hand free from her and raced to his parents, announcing what he had. He couldn’t possibly understand why everyone was so quiet, but his voice was loud enough to cut the silence like a knife.

Magnetron. Cal could tell from the little metal bracelet around the boy’s wrist that flashed in the light of the street lamp as he waved his hand to get his parents’ attention. Honestly, it was just stupid that they were all standing around and walking on egg shells around each other. Tonight was about the kids, and all of them getting to have a good time.

“I should say hello.” Cal said carefully, earning a glare from Mare as he said it.

“You don’t need to do anything.” She turned her eyes forward to watch Clara tear down the path to the group, ready to show the candy she got too.

“I know that you can’t stand him, but it’s silly that we’re all acting like this. We’re going to keep running into each other over the years.”

  
“He still hasn’t apologized.” Mare whispered, her voice breaking just slightly on the word. Even if it wasn’t his hurt to feel, it still made his chest ache to know that wound still pained her. It had been years, but that hurt was probably never going to stop tearing open and bleeding. Every little thing would probably remind Mare of what had been lost with Shade. Every new thing Clara did, every new family member that was added, it was all a tally in her book.

“You haven’t exactly given him a chance to.” Cal admonished, but softened his words by leaning down slightly to whisper, “and you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Mare expelled an annoyed sigh through her nose anyway and kept her eyes forward.

“Well, if it isn’t the whole motley crew.” Evangeline’s voice rang out clear as day behind them as she passed. Dressed in all black with a set of metal cat ears sticking out of her hair, she glanced them all over before throwing a pout in Mare’s direction “No costumes?”

“It was more about this one.” Cal shrugged a little to shift Coriane who gave a little grunt at being moved.

“Ah I see, and what exactly are we?”

“A ladybug,” Mare crossed her arms and looked Evangeline over before darting her eyes to Ptolemus. His dropped his immediately, and he set a hand on the boy’s head like he might pull him back if anything happened. Again, all of this awkward defensive posturing was silly to him. Maybe it was because he was tired of being proud, and had tried to leave as much of that behind him as possible when he committed fully to Mare.

“A sleepy ladybug I’m sure.” Elane appeared a second later, almost materializing from thin air, wearing a matching set of ears to Evangeline. Matching costumes, a classic move for the two of them. It amused him to no end that Evangeline still insisted he had never known about it. Cal would be the first to admit that at times he could be oblivious, but he was not completely stupid.

Slipping her arm around the Magnetron’s, Elane smirked as she looked at Cal, as if she could read his thoughts. He was glad she couldn’t.

“I’m getting sleepy too.” The boy pipped up from under his sheet before lifting the edge over his head. “My names Nik, I’m a sleepy ghost.” The minute he was in the light, it was very clear which of his parents he took after. He looked more like Wren, with similar coloring and hair. But everything else was Ptolemus. Eyes, nose, mouth, those were all sharp Samos lines and traits.

Cal smiled down at him, before saying, “it’s an excellent costume, Nik.”

“Next year, I’m going to be a ghost again. That way I can cut holes in the sheets again.” He yawned and let his sheet drop before turning to him mom to say something else.

“How old is she now? Two?” Evangeline waved in Coriane’s direction, before quirking a brow.

“Three soon.” Cal offered, surprised Evangeline had been so close. If Mare had run into her recently though, and Evangeline had spoken of Nik, then Mare must have spoken about Coriane. Dipping his head in Nik’s direction he returned the question. “Three as well?”

Wren nodded with a bright smile as she set her hand proudly on his head. “His older sister wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed home.”

That one Cal knew about. She’d been born a little after the wedding if he recalled.

“It’s getting late; we should be going.” Ptolemus whispered before nudging Nik in the direction of the next house. He protested, saying he wanted to stay and a talk about his costume a bit more.

“Or you could walk with us.” Mare announced quickly and everyone turned to her in shock. She looked about as shocked as everyone else by her words. Clearing her throat to relieve the awkward pause, she gestured to Coriane. “We should get her home, and you’re heading in the direction of my parent’s house anyway. We’ll just walk together.”

“Are you certain?” Ptolemus looked like he’s swallowed a nail and was trying hard to not show it. His eyes darted from Mare to Cal and then to Wren who shrugged. Evangeline was the one to finally made the decision.

“If we’re doing that, let’s get moving. I have a warm back with my name on it waiting for me at home.” She started down the street, and Nik disengaged from Ptolemus to race after her and grab her hand. It was an odd thing to see, consider Evangeline was the least maternal person Cal knew. He supposed it suited her though.

Coriane yawned again and sleepily patted his head to ask, “Mommy?”  
  


“Right here,” Mare said as she held out her hands so that Coriane could slide into them. With a sigh, she wrapped her legs around Mare’s middle and her arms around her neck. With a gentle hand, Mare smoothed out her curls as she started walking. Looking over her shoulder, she whispered to Cal as he caught up with her, “Better?”

“An olive branch is an olive branch. I didn’t expect you to throw one so quickly though.”

“Yeah well, if I’m going to preach to my kid, I might as well do some of the work as well.” Mare grumbled before shifting Coriane to hold her better. “But you are one hundred percent massaging my back when we get home. She’s getting heavier every year.”

Smirking, he set his hand on her back and leaned down to whisper with a wink, “Only if you keep your promise of a show.”


End file.
